Work has begun on site at the former Tooks Bakery land where 60 new homes and a GP ‘super-surgery’ are to be built.

Ipswich Star: An architect's impression of the new homes planned for the Took's site off Old Norwich Road in Ipswich. Picture: HANDFORD HOMES/IBCAn architect's impression of the new homes planned for the Took's site off Old Norwich Road in Ipswich. Picture: HANDFORD HOMES/IBC (Image: Archant)

Ipswich Borough Council’s housing development company Handford Homes is establishing 60 homes on the vacant site off Old Norwich Road, last used by Betabake in 2001.

On Monday, February 25, project bosses from Handford Homes and Suffolk-based contractors Gipping Construction broke ground on the site.

Councillor Colin Kreidewolf, from Ipswich Borough Council and chairman of Handford Homes, said: “I am really pleased to get people on site.

“It’s been quite a long time coming but to get spades in the ground is really good.

Ipswich Star: Old Bakery Site on Old Norwich Road. The development works are in full swing.Old Bakery Site on Old Norwich Road. The development works are in full swing.

“It’s really positive we have got Gipping Construction as a local contractor so it supports local jobs.”

The development will feature 41 council homes and 19 houses leased by the council’s lettings arm, Handford Lettings.

Ground work is expected to continue to the end of July with completed homes expected to be handed over in June 2020.

The work is expected to boost local jobs with a significant number of construction workers and sub contractors operating in the area.

Andy Laflin, director of Gipping Construction and regional director of the National Federation of Builders, said: “We are delighted to have made a start.

“It’s a really interesting project and one that we are very proud to have secured being a local contractor.

“There will be a large contingent [of local construction staff] in our direct labour as well as a large contingent of our sub-contractor database.

“I imagine 75-80% of our sub-contractor database operates in and around Suffolk and Essex.”

Mr Kreidewolf said conversations with the NHS detailing the GP surgery plans were in the “final stages”.

“The facilities at Chesterfield Drive and Deben Road [surgeries] are limited in terms of expansion and the number of people using those surgeries is growing so they need to have a modern facility to address the requirements of the 21st Century health service,” he said.

The homes are expected to cost around £9.5million to construct, with a further £9.5m needed for the GP provision.

Tooks Bakery was a mainstay of Norwich Road for several decades before it wound down, with the site having been unoccupied since 2001.